Don’t Zone 2023 Presidential Ticket To North – PDP Warns

The Peoples Democratic Party has been warned against fielding a presidential candidate from the North in 2023 as this may lead to mass exodus within the major opposition party.

A political advocacy group, Reset Nigeria, which made the call in a statement, said the party risked mass exodus of members and extinction if it failed to field a presidential candidate from Southern Nigeria in line with the idea of rotational presidency between the North and South.

The group in the statement by its spokesperson, Ibrahim Mustapha, said it had noticed that some governors in the PDP were plotting to field a Northern candidate in a bid for one of them to be chosen as running mate at the poll.

The statement reads, “In the meantime, the ruling All Progressives Congress led by President Muhammadu Buhari (a Northerner) would have spent eight years in power by 2023.

“The PDP as a party is planning to take power back to the North again. This may prompt an already impending mass exodus of PDP members to the APC, being that they feel that the ruling party will zone its presidential ticket to the South, which is the right thing to do.

“This is a wind that may blow very soon, and it will come as a rude shock to the PDP. More so, it may be the end of the PDP in Nigeria’s political process.”

The group, which said zoning the presidency to the South, will rekindle Nigeria’s unity and promote justice, equity and fairness, alleged that there were ongoing secret meetings and consultations in the PDP on how best to present a Northern presidential candidate in 2023.

It, however, warned that “this may be a Tsunami that will wipe out the PDP totally,” noting that elder statemen had kicked against the notion of favouring a Northern presidency.